Harrison, Ellie and Brockhurst, Michael A. orcid.org/0000-0003-0362-820X (2012) Plasmid-mediated horizontal gene transfer is a coevolutionary process. Trends in microbiology. pp. 262-267. ISSN 0966-842X
Abstract
Conjugative plasmids are key agents of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) that accelerate bacterial adaptation by vectoring ecologically important traits between strains and species. However, although many conjugative plasmids carry beneficial traits, all plasmids exert physiological costs-of-carriage on bacteria. The existence of conjugative plasmids, therefore, presents a paradox because non-beneficial plasmids should be lost to purifying selection, whereas beneficial genes carried on plasmids should be integrated into the bacterial chromosome. Several ecological solutions to the paradox have been proposed, but none account for co-adaptation of bacteria and conjugative plasmids. Drawing upon evidence from experimental evolution, we argue that HGT via conjugation can only be fully understood in a coevolutionary framework.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | ©2012, Elsevier Ltd. This is an author produced version of a paper published in Trends in Microbiology. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of York |
Academic Units: | The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Biology (York) |
Funding Information: | Funder Grant number NATURAL ENVIRONMENT RESEARCH COUNCIL NE/H005080/2 |
Depositing User: | Pure (York) |
Date Deposited: | 23 Nov 2013 01:04 |
Last Modified: | 21 Jan 2025 17:16 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tim.2012.04.003 |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1016/j.tim.2012.04.003 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:75385 |
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Description: Plasmid-mediated horizontal gene transfer is a coevolutionary process